Can't Fight This Feeling
by Lara Cox
Summary: He's married to a woman he thought was the love of his life. She's involved with a man everyone says is her soulmate. What happens when they meet and their whole world is turned upside down?


Hi! I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm super busy and I have another mayor story going on. But this story kept poping up in my head. I simply couldn't fight it. I'm still pretty obsessed with Jack and Renee. And I kept wondering, what would happen if both Jack and Renee were taken at the time they meet? I'll probably write short chapters and not very frequently. But bear with me.

You don't need to read my other _Janee_ story to understand this.

**IMPORTANT consideration: **I'll use the following time line:

**Day One:** March 2, 2004 (Primary Day of the 2004 election, Super Tuesday)  
**Day Two :** September/October 2005  
**Day Three:** September/October 2008  
**Day Four:** March/April 2010  
**Day five:** September/October 2011  
**Day Six:** April 6th 2013  
**Redemption:** January 20 2017 (President Taylor's inauguration)

**Day Seven:** March 25 and 26 2017 (It was stated that it takes roughly 65 days after President Taylor's inauguration)  
**Day Eight:** May 20 and 21 2018 (this was stated by Fox)

In this story, Renee was born in January 20 1980, making her 38 in May 20, 2018. I know she's supposed to be 36 at the time of her death, but that age didn't fit with the back story I had created for her before they revealed her age in the game "Operation Hero".

In this alternative universe: Audrey spent a year in a mental institution and recovered from her ordeal in China. Jack married her on June 23 2015. They had a baby girl named Jackie who was born on May 2016. (Making her 10 months old at the beginning of the story).

Renee worked undercover with Vladimir for almost two years (as stated on the show). Her mission lasted from late 2012 to early 2014.

Renee started dating Larry on September 11 of 2016.

In this AU, James Heller is Allison Taylor's Secretary of State.

**Spoilers: Pretty much the whole show**.

**CAN'T FIGHT THIS FEELING**

**Chapter One:**

**So it begins **

**September 11 of 2016**

**A bar in Georgetown**

**01 AM**

Janis Gold looked at her best friend with deep concern. Renee was at least four drinks passed drunk and was clearly not in her right mind. The red haired woman, who was 36 years old, was flirting shamelessly… with a college student. The nerdy data analyst decided she had to stop her friend before it was too late.

"So…", Renee was saying to the young guy. "You are studying chemistry? I've always liked chemistry". She finished her cosmopolitan and then brushed her lips with her tongue.

The guy was delighted. Even though Renee was older, she was very hot with her short skirt and that very tight and revealing t-shirt. The guy put an arm around her, pulled her closer to her and whispered in her ear. "Chemistry is everything".

"Hey, what if we go to my place?", Renee then asked him.

It was then that Janis appeared and separated Renee from the guy. "Okay, Casanova. You should leave. I'm sure it's past your bedtime".

The guy got naturally upset. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm her parole officer", Janis lied to get the guy to leave.

The guy then left and Renee got really angry. "Why the hell did you do that, Janis? He was cute!"

"I dunno… maybe because he looked like he has a curfew".

"I wanted to go home with him. You ruined everything". She had come to the bar hoping to get drunk, have fun and forget all her sorrows, forget about what day it was. She wanted to drink away the pain she felt over the man she had lost five years before that fateful Tuesday morning. Now she was drunk, but still felt miserable.

"I'm protecting you from yourself"

Renee sighed resignedly. The guy had left and she didn't care enough to look for him. "I need a drink". She just headed to the bar as Janis followed suit.

"I can't believe you're doing this to Larry"

"Larry is not my boyfriend"

"But he really likes you. You're breaking his heart".

Renee did her best to ignore that comment and the guilt she was starting to feel. Instead of talking to Janis, she addressed the male bartender. "Give me a Cosmopolitan…" Then she winked at him. "And maybe your number too".

"Sorry. I'm happily married with two kids", the bartender said. But he gave her the cosmopolitan.

"That's a pity", Renee said with some disappointment as she paid for the drink.

"Would you stop that?", Janis scolded Renee. "You should be with Larry. I don't understand why you're not with him. He's more than hansom. He's smart, honorable and a true gentleman. And his divorce is final now".

Renee was losing her temper, so he came up with an acid response. "Then _you_ date him…. Oh, I forgot… he doesn't like you!". She screamed right in her face. "You're just his lapdog". Renee could then tell she was being mean. Janis looked crushed. "I'm sorry. But, seriously, you have got to get over Larry. There are other guys out there for you. I bet I can find a guy who wants to sleep with you right here right now".

"But I don't want to sleep with some random guy"

"But you should, so you can get over Larry"

"Oh, sleeping with random guys is the solution? In that case, Renee, you should go back to New York, because you already slept with everyone in DC. And you're still not over your dead fiancé".

In an instant, Renee threw the content of her glass on Janis's face and walked fast away from her.

She left the bar and took some deep breaths. Janis was right about one thing, Renee still wasn't over Jimmy. But that was only one of the reasons why Renee had turned Larry down. The main reason was everything Vladimir Laitanan had put her through. She wasn't over that either.

Getting involved with Larry meant getting involved in something serious and deep. She was not ready for that. She didn't want to get so close to someone. And Larry looked too much like Jimmy.

But, being four drinks passed drunk, Renee began rethinking things. Maybe Larry was the answer. He was hansom and smart. They made such a good couple that their coworkers actually called them Scully and Mulder behind their backs, as Renee had found out recently.

She then made a decision. With determination, she headed to Larry's apartment.

Larry was woken up by the doorbell ringing. He got up and headed to the door wondering who it was, wearing serious and not sexy navy blue pajamas. He looked through the peephole and was surprised to see Renee there. He opened the door in a second. "Renee".

"Hi, Larry. May I come in?".

"Of course".

Renee walked into the apartment and took off the jacket. "I hope you don't mind the hour"

"Not at all. I told you that whenever you needed to talk you could come here". Larry knew Renee was having a hard time coping with everything that had happened to her during her undercover mission. He only knew that she had been beaten several times, but he knew nothing else because she refused to talk about it.

"Who said anything about talking?", Renee asked and then she kissed him heatedly.

**March 24 of 2017, Friday**

**Alexandria, Virginia – Renee Walker's apartment**

**11.47 pm**

She found herself once again staring at one of Jack Bauer's most recent photos. The man had short blonde hair, fascinating aquamarine green eyes and exuded masculinity from head to toe. In that picture, he looked deadly serious and was wearing a flattering work suit.

But there were other photos of the man which weren't so appealing. Photos of the burns in his body caused by Chinese intelligence agents that had tortured the man for twenty months to get information from him. There were also pictures of the deep wounds on his back, those were wounds caused by a whip cutting the skin. But the picture that had horrified her the most was the one of his hand, which had been submerged in acid more than once. She couldn't help but to wonder how he looked like now that some time had passed.

After a moment of contemplating his strong features, Renee finally put down his file. She left it over the kitchen table, which she had been using as desk, with the other papers she had been reading. Then she started making herself a cup of tea. She grabbed her mug with the FBI logo and put it over the counter. A male voice startled her.

"Honey?"

She turned around and blinked nervously. For a second, she had forgotten that Larry was spending the night at her apartment. He had gone to bed by himself, at her request, while she had stayed up reading the file. She tried to mask her surprise and gave him a tiny smile. "Hi, want some tea?"

"Okay. Thanks". Larry sat by the file-covered table in the kitchen. He took a quick glance at the very tick file Renee had been reading. "Are you reading Bauer's file again?"

"I'm just preparing myself for tomorrow"

"You think he's gonna take us to Almeida?"

"I know he will"

Larry bit his lower lip, showing some hesitation. "Are you sure you want to work with someone like him?"

"What do you mean?", Renee asked, even though she knew the answer.

"The guy is a thug, Renee. He's arrogant, he has no respect for the law and he enjoys torturing people. He's a sadistic bastard"

Instinctively, Renee jumped to defend Jack. "Don't call him that! I'm sure he doesn't enjoy doing those horrible things. But he _had_ to do them to keep the country safe"

Larry stepped back in shock. "You're justifying him? You believe it's okay to do those things?"

Renee looked down. She was embarrassed because she was starting to think that, sometimes, it was okay to go to the extremes and do bad things, in desperate times, in order to achieve a greater good. But she knew she wasn't supposed to feel that way. It was a battle between Renee Walker, the honorable FBI agent, and the other Renee… the one that had seen horrible things, had meet horrible people and had learned to get her hands dirty to get her job done; the one who had learned that bad people don't play by the rules, so you had to adjust to their methods to defeat them.

"Of course not. I'm not saying it's okay", she finally said looking at Larry yet again. She genuinely wanted to be good. She wanted to fight her dark side and beat it.

"The rules exist for a reason, Renee. We are the good guys because we follow them".

"I know that". Renee then sighed. "But we need him, Larry. Even if you don't like him, we need him to get Almeida"

"Why are you so sure he's not working with Almeida?"

"He would never betray his country", she affirmed without hesitation.

"You don't even know the guy"

That was true. Yet, she felt like she knew for some strange reason. But she definitely couldn't say that to Larry. No way.

**At the same time… **

**Baltimore, Maryland**

Jack was lying in bed next to his wife Audrey. They were both staring at the ceiling in the dark. "I can't sleep, Jack".

"You're not tired?"

"Of course I am. Jackie has been impossible today. It's even worse than when she was teething".

"Maybe she's sick"

"She's not. Don't you think I checked?". She sighed. She felt absolutely exhausted. "I guess she just had a bad day"

"Try to get some sleep", Jack suggested.

"I'm telling you I can't sleep. I'm too worried about tomorrow"

Tomorrow he had to testify in a senate hearing. The senate was investigating the violations of human rights committed by the now disbanded CTU. "Don't worry about it. It's just a hearing"

"You could go to jail, Jack"

"It's not gonna get that far", Jack said only to make Audrey feel better. He knew that his wife was right.

But Audrey was not stupid. "Senator Meyer started this investigation to get a series of indictments against former CTU agents". Jack said nothing because he knew his wife was right. Audrey sighed again. "My father is furious. This is going to embarrass him. The son-in-law of the secretary of state getting indicted for… for doing what you did? It's gonna be a huge scandal".

"He can add that to the list of reasons why he hates me"

Audrey saddened. There was a time when James Heller loved Jack like a son. That changed dramatically when Audrey got kidnapped and came back with severe psychological damage. James had blamed Jack for it. Now the two men could barely be civil for Audrey's sake. Audrey wished they could get along. They were the most important men in her life.

Jack put an arm around her to comfort her. "He'll be okay, sweetheart. I'll keep him out of all this"

"I'm not worried about him". She rested her head on his chest and hugged him tightly. "I'll die if you go to prison, Jack". Her eyes filled with tears.

"Don't say that". Jack tightened the embrace and kissed her forehead. His wife was very vulnerable. She _really_ needed him. He had to do whatever it took to avoid prison. For Audrey and little Jackie.

At that moment, they heard their baby crying. Jack quickly stopped Audrey before she could get up. He could tell his wife was exhausted. Emotionally and physically. "Let me do it, sweetheart. You need to rest"

"Thank you, Jack". She touched his cheek lovingly. "What would I do without you?".

Jack simply gave her a kiss on the lips and left the bed. He went to the bedroom right next to his, Jackie's bedroom. The baby was crying furiously, standing up and trying desperately to leave her crib, of course she wasn't able too. Jackie was a lovely baby girl with hazel eyes like her mother and wavy blonde hair. At that moment, she was wearing a cute pink pajama with flowers.

Jack hurried to pick up his very beloved daughter. "Hey, sweetie. What's wrong, angel?" The baby calmed down a little. Jack immediately could smell the problem and spoke to the baby with a funny voice. "Oh, I see… we've got a code brown situation in our hands, don't we?"

He then put the baby over the changing table and began singing to her while changing her dirty diaper like a pro. The baby was happy to hear her father sing and smiled at him. She also made cute baby noises, as if she were trying to say something.

"What you trying to say, my angel?", Jack asked. Naturally the baby kept making noises without pronouncing a clear word, since she was still too little to say anything. But jack could already tell that she was going to talk a lot at its due time. "I can't wait to hear your first word. Don't tell your mom I said this. But I hope it's daddy".

He then finished changing Jackie and sat on a rocking chair with her in his arms. "You know? You make me think of your sister Kim", Jack admitted, saddening slightly when he thought of his estranged oldest daughter. "Her first word was actually 'bye'. She said it to me when I was leaving for work. I was working all the time back then. I didn't even see her first steps". He then kissed Jackie's forehead. "I'm not doing that to you. I'll be there for you all the time".

But what if he couldn't be there? What if he actually went to jail? He couldn't stand the idea of being away from Jackie. And Audrey needed him so much. He couldn't fail either one of them.

**March 25th of 2017, Friday**

The hearing was just getting started. Jack was sitting by a table with a microphone and a jar with water. Next to him was his lawyer, Mr. Brody Swaggart, a real shark Audrey had gotten for him. At first Jack hadn't wanted any representation, he was willing to take responsibility for his actions and take the punishment, but his wife had begged him to hire the lawyer with tears in her eyes. In the end, he had done for Jackie.

At that moment, Senator Blaine Meyer was formally starting the hearings. "Let the record show that this is the third day of this senate hearing investigating human rights violations by the recently disbarred Counter Terrorist Unit. Yesterday, when we adjourned, we were discussing brutality and torture by CTU agents in the course of their operations". Then he addressed Jack. "Will the witness please state his name?"

"Jack Bauer"

"Mr. Bauer, I assume the gentleman by your side is your lawyer?"

Brody immediately stood up and confirmed. "Brody Swaggart. From Swaggart, Callahan and associates". He then took back his seat.

"All right then, lest begin". The senator proceeded with his first question. "Mr. Bauer, who is Ibrahim Haddad?"

"That information is classified", Jack said.

"We represent the people of the United States and we have declassified those files on their behalf. Now I'm going to ask you one more time… who is Ibrahim Haddad? "

Jack then gave his lawyer a look. Brody whispered in his ear. "He's right, Jack. The files have been declassified. You have to answer that question".

Jack then reluctantly complied. "He was a member of a terrorist sleeper cell CTU had under surveillance in 2002"

"And isn't it true that you detained Mr. Haddad without due process and that you used extreme methods of interrogation on him until he answered your questions?"

Jack then looked at Brody. The lawyer shook his head. Jack then realized what he had to say. "On the _advice of my lawyer_, I _decline to answer_ based upon my Fifth Amendment constitutional privilege"

Blaine insisted anyway. "Would you say that you broke procedure during this interrogation?"

Jack knew he had to refuse to answer once again. He wanted to answer though. He wanted to tell the truth and make a strong statement defending what he believed in. Yes, he had tortured Hassad. But he had done it for the greater good. Hassad was going to kill a lot of people. Jack had only done what was necessary and he wanted to say so. But he knew he couldn't.

He turned around and looked at Audrey, who was sitting on a bench right behind Jack with Jackie in her arms. The baby was cutely chewing her own hand. Jack had promised to be there for her. So he did what was best for his family and repeated what he had said before. "On the _advice of my lawyer_, I _decline to answer_ based upon my Fifth Amendment constitutional privilege"

Blaine was visibly livid. But before he could say anything, someone approached him with news. "Excuse me, Senator, Agent Walker is here"

It was then that Blaine noticed the red-haired power-suited woman in the back of the room. Wondering what she wanted, he gestured for her to approach him.

Jack turned to look at the gorgeous woman who had just interrupted the hearings. Her face was angelic. She had a spectacular red straight hair and walked with a tremendous amount of confidence, like she owned the room and everyone inside.

He was instantly impressed by her.

**To be continued…. **

**(Please, tell me what you think… should I continue?)**


End file.
